Mop rinsing machine



Oct. 11, 1966 E. v. GAMBOA MOP RINSING MACHINE Filed Aug. 25, 1964 United States Patent O 3,277,908 M01 RINSING MACHINE Ernesto V. Gamboa, 2505 E. 2nd St., Los Angeles, Calif. 90033 Filed Aug. 2S, 1964, Ser. No. 391,873 4 Claims. (Cl. 134-164) This application is concerned generally with floor mops and means for cleaning the same by rinsing. In a more specific form, the invention relates to a machine of simple construction which is mobile so that it may he moved easily over the floors of halls, ofces, and the like of ofce buildings, hospitals, and other commercial structures in which the iloors are cleaned by periodic mopping with a wet mop.

Floors in office buildings and the like are generally mopped periodically with the usual type of floor mop which is wet with water or a detergent solution in order to clean the floors and pick up dust and the like which is not easily removed by sweeping. Also wet mopping has the advantage that the operation does not raise any dust which can settle on furniture and the like. It seems obvious that to have the floor thoroughly cleaned, the mop itself must be clean; but achieving this condition of the mop is somewhat of a problem in practice.

After an area on a iloor is mopped, the mop itself is cleaned by rinsing in water or in a detergent solution which loosens the dirt from the bers of the mop. Cleaning is actually a relatively simple operation consisting of rinsing the mop thoroughly in the water or solution. Normally this is done by simply pumping the mop up and down in a bucket of water and then squeezing out surplus water in a suitable type of mop wringer. To this extent, the operation is familiar to every housewife.

When a large floor area is to be mopped, rinsing the mop often becomes hard physical work when the job is done manually; and from a practical standpoint, the greater objections perhaps is that it is tedious and time consuming. Both `of these factors tend to make janitors neglect the rinsing operation and as a result their mops are not always suiiciently clean to remove all traces of dirt from the floor, with the result that a thin lm of dirt is left. Ordinarily the work of cleaning personnel is so arranged that they are responsible for a given area within which they operate each day or night, as the case may be. Under these circumstances, they desire to complete the work as quickly as possible. Since the time spent in rinsing the mop reduces the time available for mopping the floor, there is in practice a tendency to neglect the rinsing or cleaning operation since it is viewed as being a non-productive operation.

Thus it is a general object of the present invention to provide mechanical means that are power operated for quickly and thoroughly rinsing one or more mops in a comparatively short time, thus increasing the time .available for a person to spend in mopping or cleaning the floor.

It is also an object of the present invention to provide a machine of this character which is compact; mobile, in order to be readily moved from place to place; and includes a novel type of power operated means for simultaneously subjecting a plurality of mops to a thorough rinsing and cleaning action.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a portable machine of the character described in which means are provided for quickly and easily clamping onto ICC the handles of one or more mops in such a manner that the mop heads are each immersed in a rinsing solution in a bucket or tub carried by the machine, enabling a mop to be quickly removed and replaced by another mop to be cleaned.

These objects are attained according to the present invention by providing a mop rinsing machine comprising a frame, which is normally elongated horizontally, and

which thus provides a platform for supporting a bucket containing a body of water or rinsing solution. Means on the frame extend above the bucket for supporting a plurality of mops in an upright position with the heads of the mops in the bucket and the handles extending upwardly. Power operated means, including a pair of cranks connected individually to the mop supporting means to reciprocate such means, are mounted on the frame. Power is derived from a suitable motor means, preferably an electric motor which may be connected to any suitable source of electric power. The frame is mounted on wheels, preferably casters, to enable it to be moved from place to place over the oor being mopped.

How the above objects and advantages of the present invention, as well as others not specifically referred to, are attained will be better understood by reference to the following description and to the annexed drawing, in which:

FIG. l is a perspective view of a mop rinsing machine embodying the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a side elevation of the machine at a reduced scale.

FIG. 3 is a top plan view of the machine on the same scale as FIG. 2.

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary perspective view of the reciprocating mop handle clamp and the guide means therefor provided by upright posts at the sides of the machine.

Referring now to the drawing, and particularly to FIG. 1, is will be seen that the exemplary embodiment of this invention illustrated includes a skeleton-type frame or body 1 which is preferably of substantially rectangular form in outline. There may be added to the framework side plates to enclose the motor means and other internal parts, if desired; but for purposes of illustration, suoh members are om-itted. The frame is provided on its underside with floor-engaging wheel means, preferably in the form of a plurality of casters 2. At the front of the frame is handle 3 by which the machine may be pulled over the floor from place to place, as desired.

At the top of frame 1 there is located a plurality of parallel, spaced bars 4 which extend horizontally for the full length of the machine. These bars combined form la platform 5 which supports a suitable receptacle 6 that holds a body of water or aqueous solution in which the mops are rinsed. Receptacle 6 illustrated herein is a conventional and well-known type of mop bucket which is oval in plan in order to accommodate two mops in the same receptacle; but it will be appreciated as the description proceeds that a separate receptacle for each mop may be used if desired, in which case the two buckets are arranged side by side. Consequently, the type of the receptacle for holding the mop rinsing solution is merely illustrative and not limitative upon the present invention.

This machine also provides means for supporting at the rear end a portable mop wringer 7 which may be of any suitable construction. In order to provide room for mounting the wringer on the frame at a position suitably removed from bucket 6, the frame is preferably elongated in one direction, as illustrated.

Means are provided for supporting the mops in an upright position with the mop heads, not shown in the drawing, immersed in the body of rinsing solution in receptacle 6. For this purpose, body or frame 1 is provided with an upright guide structure consisting of a pair of spaced posts 9, located one at each of two opposite sides of frame 1. These posts are joined at their upper ends by crossbar 10. Posts 9 are preferably of noncircular cross-section; and for this reason are conveniently made of channel-.shaped members as shown particularly in FIG. 4. On each post 9 is a reciprocating sleeve 11 which is slidable along the post and which has a laterally extending arm 12 carrying at its outer end a mop clamp 13. With this arrangement, the handle of each of a pair of mops may be clamped in an upright position in one of the clamps 13. The mops are thus supported with their heads immersed in the rinsing solution while the handles extend upwardly. To guide the handles at their upper ends, crossbar is notched at two spaced positions vertically above the two clamps 13, in order to receive in each notch a mop handle. A latch bar 15 is pivotally mounted at one end on crossbar 10 and it is notched at two .spaced positions 14, corresponding to the notches in crossbar 10, so that when the latch bar is swung into parallelism with crossbar 10, as shown in FIG. l, the upper ends of the mop handles are confined against lateral movement and are guided in a vertical path, the notches being large enough to allow the mop handles to slide freely with respect to crossbar 10.

Each mop handle clamping means 13, as may be seen in FIG. 4, comprises a pair of clamping members 16 which are hinged together at one end in order that they may be spread apart to receive between them the mop handle. At their other end, they are releasably fastened together in any suitable manner, typical of which is a screw-threaded bolt member 17 provided with a wing nut 18 and attached at one end to one of the clamp members 16. Bolt 17 is receivable in a slot 19 in the other of the clamp members 15 in a manner such that by tightening down on the wing nut, the two clamp members 16 `are brought together. In this way, the clamp may grip the mop handle with sufficient firmness that the mop is moved up and down as the guide 11 and supporting arm structure 12 and 13 reciprocate along post 9. At the same time, the mop handle is quickly released from the clamp when the wing nut is loosened and the parts are in the position shown in FIG. 4.

Means carried by frame 1 for vertically reciprocating the mop handle clamp and associated structure include a transversely extending shaft 22 carrying at each end crank means in the form of flywheel 25 and rotatably mounted on frame 1 by a pair of journal bearings 23, shown in FIG. 3. Each flywheel 25 has a rim with internal teeth meshing with a drive pini-on 24. The two drive pinions 24 are mounted on opposite ends of drive shaft 26 rotatably mounted on frame 1 by a pair of journal bearings 27.

Drive shaft 26 is driven by electric motor 30 through a speed reducing power transmission means comprisi-ng belt 31 passing over pulley 32 on the output shaft of motor 30 and a second pulley 33 on countershaft 34. Countershaft 34 also carries pulley 35 over which passes belt 36 and drives pulley 37 mounted on shaft 26. The sizes of the pulleys are chosen to give a desired degree of speed reduction between motor 30 and shaft 26. A nal degree of speed reduction is achieved by the ratio of pinions 24 to ywheel gear 25 since it is desired that shaft 22 rotate somewhere in the general vicinity of -30 r.p.m.

Externally of each of ilywheels is a crank pin 38 by which connecting rod 39 is pivotally connected at one end to crank means 25. The other end of each connecting rod 39 is pivotally connected at 40 to one of the sleeves 11. Thus as shaft 22 rotates, crank pins 38 are moved in a circular path and -a component of this motion is transmitted by connecting rod 39 to sleeve 11, reciprocating the sleeve along the guide provided by post 9. This reciproeating motion is communicated through arm 12 and clamp 13 to the mop handle held in the clamp. Since crank pins 38 are offset 180 with respect to each other, one of the mops is moving upwardly at the time that the other one is moving down. This arrangement not only tends to balance the load on the electric motor, but reduces vibration in the moving parts and also allows maintenance of a higher liquid level in the receptacle since there is less tendency for the mops to splash the liquid out as they move up and down in this body of liquid. The range of vertica-l movement of the mops is somewhat less than the depth of liquid in the receptacle so that the mop heads are not lifted out of the rinsing liquid but are merely reciprocated back and forth while substantially totally immersed at all times.

It will be apparent from the above that the machine constituting the present invention may be operated in a manner to greatly increase the efficiency and effectiveness of janitorial services. Two mops may be rinsed and cleaned while other services are being performed so not only is labor economized by eliminating the necessity for manually rinsing the mops, but a thorough and complete rinsing job can be accomplished without any reduction in the amount of time available for other work. Being mobile, the machine may be moved from place to place as the mopping progresses so that it is not necessary to walk any substantial distance from the larea being mopped to the machine and back again in order to exchange a dirty mop for a clean one. This mobility of the machine in itself facilitates carrying on a mopping operation in such a manner that a clean mop is being used. As a result, the maximum cleaning is attained as a -result of the mopping.

It will be apparent from the foregoing description that various changes may be made in the design and arrangement of the various parts constituting the present invention without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention. Consequently, it is to be understood that the foregoing is considered as being illustrative of, rather than llimitative upon, the invention as defined by the appended claims.

I claim:

1. A mop rinsing machine comprising:

a horizontally elongated skeleton-type frame;

floor-engaging wheels on the frame enabling movement over a oor to be mopped;

means on the frame for supporting a receptacle containing a body of mop rinsing solution;

a pair of spaced, upright posts on the frame;

a crossbar joining the upper ends of said posts;

clamping means slidably mounted on each of said posts and adapted to grip the handle of a mop in the receptacle;

means on said crossbar for slidably engaging each mop handle above the clamping means;

and means mounted on the frame for vertically reciprocating said mop handle clamping means and mops gripped thereby to rinse the mops in the body of solution.

2. A mop rinsing machine as in claim 1 in which the last-mentioned means includes a transversely extending shaft rotatably mounted on the frame, crank means secured to each end of the shaft, `and connecting rods pivotally connected to the respective cranks and to one of the clamping means to reciprocate the clamping means on the associated post.

3. A mop rinsing machine as in claim 1 in which the crank means includes two cranks that are out of phase with each other.

4. A mop 4rinsing machine comprising:

a frame including platform means for removably supporting a receptacle containing a body of mop rinsing liquid;

a pair of spaced upright posts on the frame;

a stationary crossbar extending horizontally between and joining the posts;

6 clamping means slidably mounted on each of said References Cited by the Examiner posts and adapted to grip the handle of a mop in the UNITED STATES PATENTS receptacle; guide means on the crossbar slidably engaging each 6691432 3/1901 Wmbum 259 112 handle above the clamping means; 5 875,889 1/1908 Bradshaw 134-164 X and means on the frame for vertically reciprocating 2,811,974 11/ 1957 Garapolo et al, 134-164X said mop handle clamping means and mops gripped 3,101,088 8/1963 Gray 134 164 X thereby to rinse the mops in said liquid; said last mentioned means including separate crank CHARLES A WILLMUTH Pmary Examiner means drvingly connected to each of the clamping 10 means at said posts. R. L. BLEUTGE, Assistant Examiner. 

4. A MOP RINSING MACHINE COMPRISING: A FRAME INCLUDING PLATFORM MEANS FOR REMOVABLY SUPPORTING A RECEPTACLE CONTAINING A BODY OF MOP RINSING LIQUID; A PAIR OF SPACED UPRIGHT POSTS ON THE FRAME; A STATIONARY CROSSBAR EXTENDING HORIZONTALLY BETWEEN AND JOINING THE POSTS; CLAMPING MEANS SLIDABLY MOUNTED ON EACH OF SAID POSTS AND ADAPTED TO GRIP THE HANDLE OF A MOP IN THE RECEPTACLE; GUIDE MEANS ON THE CROSSBAR SLIDABALY ENGAGING EACH HANDLE ABOVE THE CLAMPING MEANS; AND MEANS ON THE FRAME FOR VERTICALLY RECIPROCATING SAID MOP HANDLE CLAMPING MEANS AND MOPS GRIPPEDD THEREBY TO RINSE THE MOPS IN SAID LIQUID; SAID LAST MENTIONED MEANS INCLUDING SEPARATE CRANK MEANS DRIVINGLY CONNECTED TO EACH OF THE CLAMPING MEANS AT SAID POSTS. 